Why is Math Difficult for Many Children to Study?
Several surveys had been carried out where school children were asked to pinpoint the subject that they considered to be the toughest. And, the majority of the students gave only a single answer- mathematics! It’s unsurprising.
For a substantial chunk of the kids, mathematics isn’t a thing that can be learned with minimal effort. It is a subject that demands a lot of hard work and patience. At this juncture, it’ll be worthwhile to briefly focus upon some of the salient points.
- One of the primary reasons why math is so difficult is that it is an accumulative subject. A thorough understanding of specific aspects is mandatory for you to properly grasp the topics to be taught at the next level. This is a continuous process.
- It’s here that many children face serious issues. They move on to the subsequent grade even if they are lagging behind in the math that was taught at the preceding level. As a result, their performance gets gravely impacted, and that in turn hits their confidence levels.
- In most of educational institutions, mathematics teaching methodology isn’t proper. To be precise, due to the way the subject is taught, students treat math as something completely irrelevant in real life. Kids think that topics like algebra, calculus, and geometry are of no help in their day-to-day life. This mindset just aggravates things for pupils, for learning mathematics.
- There’s another crucial factor that makes mathematics a difficult subject for several kids. This again is related to the improper approach of educators.
- Many children can carry out calculations/analyses in the mind, silently, and give the right answer. But they have problems putting down the calculations and logical steps on paper. Most of the schools don’t recognize the ability of these profiles and label even these students as “weak in math.” This demotivates the pupils and their fear of mathematics seriously escalates.
- Mathematics is different from all the other subjects included in the school curriculum. In math, you come out with either the right answer or the wrong answer; there’s no in-between here. Let us elaborate a bit more.
- When other subjects are viewed; the answers are usually subjective ones. Even if the student forgets to mention one or two points, they will not be penalized. Here, if the important points are covered that would suffice; small omissions are ignored. But the scenario in mathematics fully differs. In math, even when you get all the steps right but commit a mistake at the last step, your answer is going to be wrong!
- Unfortunately, teachers are under tremendous pressure to complete the syllabus on time. Due to this stress, the teachers are compelled to concentrate only on making the pupils blindly learn by rote. Here, students fail to understand the formulas and concepts. Consequently, the child is gravely hindered in learning the subject at the succeeding level. The issue gets compounded!
The teachers and parents are advised to make a serious note of the above points and modify their teaching style accordingly. It is only then that the subject will start to appear simpler to students. After all, knowledge of basic math is mandatory for everyone, irrespective of the career chosen!
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